Fluorescent Probes for Amyloidosis, Prion disease and Cancer
- Reference number
- I06-0231
- Start and end dates
- 070901-110630
- Amount granted
- 3 000 000 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Linköping University
- Research area
- Life Science Technology
Summary
The main objectives of this project are to synthesize conformational sensitive conjugated polyelectrolytes probes (CPPs) and explore the use of these molecular probes as optical tools for studying disease related biological questions. The research project has a multidisciplinary focus and involves organic chemistry, photophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine. To address and solve the disease related biological questions, a diverse combinatorial library of CPPs having different side chain functionalities and unique optical properties will be synthesized. By using this library, novel methods for studying Alzheimer´s disease, prion diseases and cancer will be developed and the focus will be to engineer CPPs that will be suitable for studying these diseases in vivo by multhiphoton imaging. In the long run, CPPs and methods for studying other disease or biological systems will also be developed. The results from the proposed research will lead to novel molecular probes and methods that can be utilized to gain further insight into the fundamental underlying mechanisms of the diseases. Furthermore, rapid simple tests for clinical diagnostics of these diseases will also be provided. The methods provided might also be useful for high throughput screening of potential pharmaceuticals for these diseases. In a broad perspective, the proposed research would contribute a lot to both academic science and industry.